Skill Order

Champion Matchups

Introduction

HEY GUYS!! I HAVE BEEN MESSING AROUND WITH SEASON 3 MASTERIES AND ITEMS AND I AM CURRENTLY WORKING ON REVAMPING THIS GUIDE TO FIT SEASON 3!!

PLEASE READ THE FULL GUIDE AND THE EXPLANATION FOR MY CHOICES BEFORE DOWN-VOTING PLEASE!!

While there are a couple of ways to build Hecarim in the jungle, the way that I am focusing on in this guide is used to increase Movement Speed and Damage in order to get in quick and powerful ganks. This does mean that he sacrifices some tankiness in order to achieve that and you are not advised to build
Hecarim this way if your team doesn't have a tank/semi-tank to absorb some of the damage.

Pros

Fast jungle clears

Great counter-jungling

Very mobile

Strong and versatile ganks (many ganking paths)

Not blue buff dependent

Great team fight presence with lots of AoE

Cons

Squishy in the early game

Can be kited

Ultimate and Knock-back from 'E' is hard to master

Any tips on this guide (especially how to post pics and video from a computer) and future guides are much appreciated.

Masteries

Explanation:

As you can see, I run 0/21/9 Masteries on my Jungle Hecarim. The reason for the 21 in Defense Masteries is it gives him a good amount of tankiness for ganking and in the jungle and the 9 in Utility Masteries allows him to survive without blue buff for the most part. I don't go into the Offense tree because I feel that your items will take care of your damage needs. Now lets go further in depth into each tree and my choices.

Defense Masteries:

2 Points in Tough Skin --> Self-explanatory, same as Season 2. Reduce minion damage by two. You are jungling, you NEED this, no exceptions.
1 Point in Bladed Armor --> Returns 6 damage to minions. You are jungling and with the new jungle, this really helps with the clear times as camps have more health than in Season 2. You NEED this mastery, no exceptions.
2 Points in Hardiness --> Gives an extra 4 Armor (AR) which is always nice to have.
4 Points in Durability --> +6 Health (HP) per level. You need that extra health and tankiness. It helps both in the jungle and carries to late game during team fights. An extra 108 Health at level 18 can mean the difference between you surviving and not.
1 Point in Veteran Scars --> +30 Health. Good for early in the jungle and when ganking. Same reason as above, 30 Health can mean the difference.
3 Points in Initiator --> Increases Movement Speed (MS) by 3% when above 70% Health. Not only does this mastery give you more Attack Damage (AD) because of your passive, but is also makes your ganks come in faster and lets you chase down enemies and move faster in between camps. THIS IS A MUST HAVE MASTERY ON HECARIM.
2 Points in Enlightenment --> 5.4% Cool-Down Reduction (CDR) at level 18. This is kind of a personal preference thing. I just like the cooldown reduction because it lets me spam my abilities faster (especially my Q) giving me slightly faster jungle clears and a bit more DPS.
3 Points in Honor Guard --> Reduces damage taken by 1.5%. Another personal preference thing, I just think this makes you a bit more tanky late game allowing you to take less damage than Indomitable later on.
1 Point in Juggernaut --> Increases Max Health by 3% and reduces the duration of incoming disables by 10%. THIS IS A MUST HAVE. More health means more survivability and less trips to the pool and the reduction in incoming disables really helps with the Crowd Control effects and makes for better ganks and team fights.

Other Possible Defense Mastery Choices:

Summoner's Resolve --> Grants bonus 10 gold on Smite use. Perfectly viable mastery, I just prefer putting that point somewhere else like Armor, MR or reduced damage, but again it all depends on your play style and preference with this mastery.

Vigor --> Grants +1/2/3 Health Regeneration per 5 seconds. You could get this, but I really see no reason to seeing as your life steal and Spirit or Dread ability will take care of health regeneration. Not to mention your Force of Nature Passive.

Evasion --> Reduces damage from Area of Effect (AoE) abilities by 1/2/3%. Highly situational. I rarely see why you should get this over other damage reducing masteries seeing as this one only works with a limited number of skills.

Defense Masteries to NEVER Get When Jungling Hecarim:

Siege Commander --> Reduces armor of near-by tower by 10. No towers in the jungle. NEVER GET THIS!

Mercenary --> Gain a bonus 8/16/24 gold on Champion kills and assists. That is about 1 minion kill. You can put that point to much better use in other masteries. DON'T GET THIS!

Utility Masteries:

1 Point in Summoner's Insight --> 15 seconds reduced cooldown on Flash. Having the ability to use flash as a chaser or escape 15 seconds faster is a really nice thing.
3 Points in Expanded Mind --> +12 Mana per level. The extra mana is really one of the things that helps you be less dependent on blue buff and +216 Mana at level 18 helps you go back to pool less and allows you to farm and spam abilities longer.
4 Points in Swiftness --> +2% Movement Speed. THIS IS A MUST ON HECARIM!! This gives you more AD because of his passive and allows for better ganks and chasing. Get this, no exceptions.
1 Point in Runic Affinity --> Increases the duration of neutral monster buffs by 20%. This is also a must in the jungle. This allows your blue buff, red buff and baron buff to last longer on you which is always welcome.

Other Possible Utility Mastery Choices:

Meditation --> +1/2/3 Mana Regeneration per 5 seconds. This is okay and really helps out with your mana problems in the jungle, easpecially early on, but you would need to sacrifice the movement speed mastery and that is something that you SHOULDN'T do on Hecarim.

Utility Masteries You Shouldn't Get When Jungling Hecarim:

Good Hands --> Reduces time spent dead by 4/7/10%. This is okay but you would be sacrificing the extra mana for it making you more blue dependent and as arrogant as this may sound, you should try to not die often enough to make this ability useful.

Improved Recall --> Reduces recall time by 1 second. That point is much better used somewhere else and I feel that you don't (or shouldn't be) recalling that much in the game to make this worth getting seeing as you are in the jungle.

Scout --> NEVER GET THIS! EVER!! You are not a support, you are the jungler. While you should get wards it should not be your main priority thus there is completely no point in getting this mastery.

Runes

Explanation:

Marks:
The reason I run armor penetration is I feel that you can slip in that extra bit of damage especially since his main damage dealing ability, which is his 'Q', scales with AD. Again its a personal preference thing. Also, this allows you to deal almost true damage to most jungle creeps because of their low armor score. Some other viable runes in my opinion are Flat AD marks and MAYBE Flat HP or HP/Level Marks. Only get the HP marks if you do not have the two previously mentioned types available.

Quintessences:
Now here it gets a little bit different. I run Flat AD Quints seeing as it gives me that nice damage boost and makes jungle clears early on faster and earlier ganks more potent. Another set of quintessences that are REALLY good on Heacrim are Movement Speed Quintessences. These quints make for faster ganks and a more mobile jungler and your passive still converts that Movement Speed into AD, but as opposed to Flat AD Quints, you sacrifice some early game damage. If you do not have Flat AD or Movement Speed Quints, Flat HP or HP per Level Quints will work as well. You will be less mobile and have less damage, but you will be tankier.

Summoner Spells

Explanation:
Smite --> Every jungler MUST have Smite, and I mean MUST! You use this to clear camps faster, get that last amount of damage on your buffs as well as on dragon and baron. Also, should another team be doing dragon or baron, this allows you to potentially steal it.

Flash --> This is such a versatile summoner spell and it has so many uses that I think it's just too good to pass up. You can use this as an escape, as a chase or to just get better positioning in a team fight. This is a summoner spell that you should be getting 9/10 if not 10/10 times.

Other Alternatives to Flash:
While I don't recommend this, here are 2 other summoners that you can take instead of Flash.

Ghost --> Grants 30% bonus Movement Speed for 10 seconds. This is an entirely viable alternative to flash seeing as it gives you more Movement Speed and thus, because of Hecarim's passive, more AD for those 10 seconds. It is a great chaser and gap closer as well as an escape tool. "Why don't you get it then?" you might ask. Well, mostly because Hecarim's 'E' ability is already a miniature ghost, and while it does last only 3 seconds, it gives you an extra 75% Movement Speed instead of only 30%. Why have 2 of the same abilities.

Exhaust --> Reduces targets AD by 70%, Ability/Item Damage by 35% and Movement Speed by 40% for 2.5 seconds. While this does limit your opponents escapes and allows for some good ganks if you sneak up behind them. It does however greatly decrease your mobility and escape/chase mechanisms, thus forcing you to rely on your 'E' and 'R' abilities which both have fairly long cooldowns.

Summoner Spells to NEVER Get When Jungling Hecarim:
Clairvoyance --> Just no. You aren't a support and this gives you absolutely NO HELP in your ganks or jungle clear. Waste of a mastery in this case.

Clarity --> Sure it gives you a nice amount of mana, but mid to late game this is useless since you won't have any mana problems anyways. Also, no help in your ganking ability at all and no use in the jungle seeing as you will have blue buff in your first pass anyways. Do not get!

Cleanse --> Definitely more useful than the previous two since you can cleanse out of an exhaust or a stun, but other than that it doesn't help with your clear times and the ganking benefit only comes if your opponent runs exhaust or has hard CC (Crowd Control) like a stun. There are better summoners to use in this case than this.

Heal --> Not bad. It gives you some burst health, but again the problem goes back to your jungle clear and your ganks.

Ignite --> The DoT (Damage over Time) and regeneration debuffs are a great finisher, but you would rather that your solo lane got the kill which is why I would not get this. It also doesn't really stop your opponent from escaping in any way.

Promote --> ........no minions in the jungle. Please don't.

Revive --> For the love of God, Cthulu, Buddah, Allah or whatever deity you worship or don't worship just NO. If I have to explain myself as to why, then there might be no hope for you at this point.

Skills

Explanation:
In my opinion this is one of the best passives in the game, hands down. Free AD for my bonus movement speed.... YES PLEASE!!! This passive is what allows you to build Hecarim as a very mobile and fast champion while still maintaining a healthy amount of damage. More than healthy in my opinion seeing as before the movement speed item nerfs I could get as much as an extra 60 AD from this. Even after the nerfs I can get up to an extra 50-55 AD. That is as much as a free BF Sword and Long Sword combined. Plus, don't you hate it when you are chasing someone or escaping and those pesky minions get in your way? Well no more seeing as the 'no unit collision' part of this passive lets you slip through them like a ghost helping tremendously with your ganks.

Q: RampageHecarim cleaves nearby enemies, dealing physical damage. (50% damage to minions and monsters)
If Hecarim damages at least one enemy unit with this attack, he gains a stack of Rampage, reducing the base cooldown of this skill by 1 second for a short duration. This effect can stack up to 2 times.

Explanation:
This ability is your bread and butter in both jungling and in team-fights. With the 2 stacks and 5% CDR you can be easily spamming this ability every 1.5 seconds or so. The damage from this is also nothing to laugh at, plus the fact that this is an AoE skill makes it that much more valuable. Also, while it does say 50% damage to minions that stat is outdated seeing as they buffed that damage to 66% making his clears that much faster. Because of all of this, you want to start with this skill at level 1 and max this BY LEVEL 9, no exceptions. I'll explain some tricks to this ability in the Jungling section as well.

W: Spirit of DreadHecarim surrounds himself with the spirit of dread for 4 seconds, dealing magic damage per second to all enemies within its reach. Additionally, Hecarim is healed for a percentage of the damage enemies within the area take from any source. Healing from damage dealt to minions is capped per cast.

Explanation:
This skill is very similar to Mordekaiser's passive in the sense that this WILL keep you alive in team-fights most of the time. This ability keeps you alive in the jungle longer and provides ANOTHER AoE skill to Hecarim's arsenal. Also, at skill level 5 this ability heals you back for 30% of ALL damage dealt to enemies inside the AoE. This means that, if in a team-fight, your allies dealt 5000 damage inside the circle, you will be healed back for 1500 damage. 1500!! This is a crazy skill which is why you should be getting this skill at level 2 (unless you are ganking level 2, I will explain later) and max this second BY LEVEL 13.

E: Devastating ChargeHecarim gains 75% movement speed over the course of three seconds, ending one second afterward. His next attack knocks the target back, dealing physical damage based on how far Hecarim has traveled during Devastating Charge's duration.

Explanation:
This skill is Hecarim's utility skill. Because of that you will only by using this skill for its short movement speed burst and the knock-back effect seeing as its damage isn't that great. Thus, you should only get this skill at level 4 and max it LAST, because that one point will let you use this to set up good ganks. If you are ganking at level 2, then get this skill at level 2 after you 'Q', but still max it LAST.

Explanation:
Hecarim's Ultimate skill and truthfully a hard one to master. This is Hecarim's third AoE ability and can be used as a gap closer, escape mechanism and as an initiator. Its Terror CC allows for a short disruption to a team's fighting ability, giving you enough time to get on a squishy and get the kill. As with any ultimate you should put points in it whenever possible at level 6,11 and 16. This ability also greatly helps when ganking lanes as I will explain in the Ganking section later on.

Skill Order

Explanation:

This section is going to be short and sweet. You Start off with 1 point in 'Q' and max it by level 9 seeing as this will be your main damage dealing ability in team-fights and your primary ability when jungling. You should get your 'W' second at level 2 and max it by level 13 seeing as it will give you that survivability and sustain in the jungle and in team-fights. You 'E' should be gotten at level 4 and maxed last seeing as it is your utility skill and 1 point will suffice. The only exception to 'W' and 'E' is when your are ganking at level 2. In that case you should replace 'W' with 'E' at level 2 and get 'W' at level 4 instead. Your ultimate 'R' skill should be maxed whenever possible at level 6,11 and 16.

Your priority is like this: > > >

Item Builds

Starting Items:

Advantages:

More damage due to passive

Faster clear times (less time in between camps)

Better ganks

Advantages:

More times can be spent in the jungle

A bit safer

9/10 times you SHOULD be starting boots+3. The only time you should be starting cloth+5 is dependent on who is your enemy jungler. Get cloth+5 when you have jungler with high 1v1 capabilities like Lee Sin or Olaf.

Sustain --> Life steal lets you stay in the jungle longer and gank more.

Minion Proc --> This extra damage proc not only makes your jungle clears faster but gives your dragon and baron control because of your ability to now take down these objectives much quicker.

Armor --> Who doesn't love more armor?

Seeing as you will be building this into a Trinity Force this is a nice mid-game pick-up.

Advantages:

Attack Damage --> What's not to love?

Health --> Better survivability and sustain.

Slow Proc --> Has a 25% chance to slow movement speed by 30% for 2.5 seconds. Makes it harder to get away from your ganks.

You'll build this into a Warmog's Armor later in the game.

Advantages:

Health --> Gives you more survivability in teams fights. You are less squishy, thus you can get the enemy carries before dying.

You will use this to build into a Force of Nature. Get this only if the team is magic heavy or their AP Mid is starting to hurt a bit too much. If their AP carries are not dealing that much damage hold off on getting this in exchange for an earlier Trinity Force.

Advantages:

Magic resistance --> Who doesn't love MR.

Boots:

Advantages:

Higher mobility

Extra AD

I usually get these boots or Mercury's Treads on Hecarim. I prefer these because not only does this make him more mobile and have better ganks, it gives him that extra 4 AD over all other boots. Now some of you may ask: "Why Boots of Swiftness over something like Boots of Mobility?"
Well, while boots of mobility does give him that extra speed while travelling, as soon as he gets into a fight he loses that and in turn the extra AD that goes with it. Boots of Swiftness in this case are more reliable and better in general.

Advantages:

Magic Resistance

Tenacity --> Reduce the time of all disables and CC effects.

I take Mercury Treads instead of Boots of Swiftness when I am facing one of two things; a team with a lot of magic damage or a team with a lot of stuns or CC. I usually go 50/50 between Mercury Treads and Boots of Swiftness. You should always look at team composition before making your choices. If the enemy jungler is Nautilus you MUST GET THESE BOOTS.

Boots That You Should Not Get:

I just feel that these boots don't give enough to Hecarim to make them viable. You will already get enough Attack Speed (AS) from Trinity Force and Phantom Dancer and to me Mercury Treads and Boots of Swiftness are much better choices on Hecarim.

Hecarim already has great mobility and when you are damaged you lose the extra AD from the effect these boots offer. Boots of Swiftness > Boots of Mobility.

I mean you technically could, and the 15% CDR is nice, but I think that CDR should not be your primary stat. In this case it is a personal preference thing to not get these boots.

Again something that you COULD buy, but I would rather not. They are cheap, but your other items will give you plenty of Armor which is why I think getting these boots would be a waste of time.

The most useless boots on Hecarim. His only AP scaling abilities are his 'W' and 'R' and their ratios are not the best. NEVER get these!

Late Game Items:

Advantages:

Provides both AP and AD, Attack Speed and Crit Chance

Slow Proc from Phange

Sheen Proc

Movement Speed and therefore more AD

Health and Mana give more sustain and survivability

After I get my Wriggle's Lantern, Phange and Giant's Belt I upgrade the Phange into a Trinity Force ASAP. All of the stats on Trinity Force work towards improving Hecarim and the Sheen proc is amazing considering you can get it off every 1.5-2 seconds because of your 'Q' spamming. The MS, AS and crit chance all work to increase his damage output and since it adds both AP and AD this item improves all of his skills. TRINITY FORCE IS A MUST HAVE ITEM ON HECARIM!!

Advantages:

Tankiness to survive team-fights

Sustain with Health Regen.

After Trinity Force I upgrade my Giant's Belt into a Warmog's Armor. The health regeneration gives him more sustain in the jungle allowing him to gank and farm more and the health gives him that tankiness so that he can get on the enemy squishies without being killed himself. Extra health never hurt anyone. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND HAVING THIS ITEM IN EVERY GAME!

Advantages:

Great sustain due to health regen.

On Hecarim this becomes a defensive item that gives AD

I grab this item because Hecarim needs some MR and this item has it. Not only that but it gives him ridiculous amounts of health regen, as well as movement speed. Therefore, due to his passive this item boosts his AD as well. I pick this item up 95% of the time.

Advantages:

Greatly increases Hecarims DPS

More Mobility

Now this is the kind-of controversial item here. I love this item on Hecarim because of the extra Movement Speed, Crit Chance and Attack Speed. This gives Hecarim a DRAMATIC increase in his DPS and lets him unload a huge amount of damage in a really short period of time. By the time I get this my AS is somewhere around 2.0 and my AD is about 200ish meaning I can deal 400 damage a second, not counting crit chance (which is close to 40%) and my 'Q' which I can spam every 2 seconds. Add in sheen proc on this and I can dish out about 2k damage (does not take into account resistances) in a span of 5 seconds in auto-attacks alone.

Advantages:

Great Combination of Armor and Damage

After I get enough money I sell my Wriggle's Lantern and buy an Atma's Impaler. This item gives me more AR than the Lantern and it gives me more AD and Crit chance. The Wriggle's proc and free ward becomes less necessary at this point in the game because you can always out-damage it and wards will not really be your job. I get this item in order to become that quick-hard hitting assassin that can jump on the enemy carry and quickly take him out.

Other Viable Item Choices:

Advantages:

Team Aura

Huge amounts of Defensive stats

Fairly Cheap

I have seen some people run this on Hecarim. This gives you a nice mix of resistances and health combines with AD for a very low price. I personally wouldn't get this though because more often than not your support will probably pick up an item like this.

Advantages:

Spell Shield

Better Survivability

This is also a nice defensive item that you can pick up on Hecarim. The health, mana and MR give him survivability and the spell shield is very nice for blocking incoming spells and CC. I usually don't get this because of Force of Nature, but if you want to you can swap that out and pick up this item instead. You will be losing that extra AD and move speed though.

Advantages:

Killer Aura

CDR and Tankiness rolled into one sexy package

This is an item that I see myself getting sometimes as it gives a crazy amount of Armor and CDR. Also the AS debuff aura that it brings to team-fights is great and all around this is a good item pick-up on Hecarim. Remember though that everything is situational. You shouldn't pick this up against an AP heavy team as its stats would not be of much use.

Advatanges:

100% slow chance

Turns Hecarim into an amazing chaser

This is another item that you can use instead of something like the Phantom Dancer. It gives Health, AD and the crazy slow chance. Take that slow and combine that with Hecarim's insane mobility and movement speed and he can stop almost anyone from getting away from him.

Advantages:

Extra Life

Lots of resistances

I think it is self-explanatory why a Guardian Angel is another good item on Hecarim. Everyone loves the ability to respawn and with the amount of AoE damage that Hecarim has, even if taken out early, this item lets him come back into the team-fight and deal that crazy amount of damage a second time.

Advantages:

Free shield

Tryndomere passive in an item

This is something I have been experimenting with and have found that it can in fact for on Hecarim. The shield can get you out of some sticky situations and the passive effect works well with your 'W'. Still look at your enemy's team composition and think whether or not this item will work.

Advantages:

Short burst of MS

Gives a lot of Sustain

I have seen this on some players. Personally I do not like this on Hecarim since you are hurting his potential by building this item. Your support will have it anyways and while it does allow you to get that early Philosopher Stone I think that this should not be on your list of must haves.

Advantages:

Faster Jungle clears

Survivability

This gives you a nice mix of armor and health if you are looking to build Hecarim more tanky. The passive also helps out a lot in the jungle and makes your clears that much faster. The team-fight damage is also nice.

Advantages:

Nice active

Crazy amount of defensive stats

Allows for early GP5 item

This is an item that you can replace for Warmog's. It still gives you health and health regen, but it also gives some armor and the crazy AS reducing passive and active. In team fights this item comes in handy more. You are also able to get that early GP5 item to help boost your gold income.

Early Game

Explanation:

In the early game what you want to do is find a good balance between ganking and farming. You want to deny the enemy solo lanes of as much experience and farm as possible so focus top and mid for your ganking efforts in the early game. I wouldn't gank until about level 4, but if you are coordinated enough with your team you can try for a level 2 gank assuming that lane has some sort of CC. You want to snowball top and mid for your team. Try to get your mid-game items as quickly as possible. Always look for ganks, but do not spend too much time in one place as it will hurt your farm. Wait 30 seconds max and only wait more if your are 100% CERTAIN that you can get a kill out of it for yourself or your team. Invading the opponent is more important at this stage in the game than in others because an under-farmed and under-leveled jungler can't perform effective ganks. Therefore, if you see the enemy jungler show himself mid or bot while you are top, go and invade their jungle. At enemy camps leave one small wraith, one small wolf or one small golem after you finish killing the big ones. This will stop the enemy camp from respawning and further deny the enemy jungler EXP and Gold.

Mid Game

Explanation:

The mid game becomes more centered towards objective control, especially dragon and baron. At this point in time you should be saving your smite and in my opinion using it solely on dragon, baron and when stealing enemy buffs or large creeps. Keep in mind though, if you are invading and dragon is due to come up in a minute do not use your smite as you will need it more for dragon. By this point you will have a really fast jungle clear so in the spare time you should ALWAYS be looking for a potential gank or just aid your lanes in pushing and taking turrets.

Keeping vision on Baron and Dragon becomes equally as important and while warding is mainly considered a support's job you should always have a couple of wards besides you Wriggle's Lantern in order to make sure that the Dragon and Baron areas are properly warded.

One other important thing to note is who should get the Oracle's Elixir. While this is more often becoming a jungler's job (you see junglers like Crs Saintvicious getting fairly early oracles often) I feel that when playing Hecarim you should only get an Oracles when you are fairly ahead of the other team and have a low chance of dying. This is due to the fact that unlike other junglers, you will be diving into the team in order to apply your massive amounts of AoE and in order to jump onto the enemy carries. This will put you straight in the middle of the team and might result in you having a high chance of being focused and dying. I usually get Oracle's after I finished my first major tank item like a Warmog's or Randuin's Omen.

Late Game

Explanation:

Late game, especially in Solo Que, its all about controlling baron. This is because whoever controls Baron, controls the pace of the game. Not having vision on Baron forces a team to constantly be on edge and required to check in order to make sure the other team does not just sneak it in. In solo que the team that takes baron is usually the one that is going to win the game so vision on the baron pit is important. Hecarim is able to take baron very quickly because of his 'Q' spam. If the other team is getting baron, sacrificing yourself in order to get a smite steal on it is always going to pay off for your team since you are trading the 300-400 gold from the kill on you for 1500 global gold and the baron buff to your allies.

As much as people downplay the importance of dragon late game it is still an objective that you should be taking every time that it is up and your are able to safely do so. One thousand global gold is nothing to laugh at, even late game and it can help you pick up those items that much faster.

Remember to keep CS-ing, because as a wise man once said: "Every second that you are not making money in a LoL game, you are steadily decreasing your chances of winning that game."

Jungling

Explanation:

Hecarim is a very versatile jungler and because of this he can start at either blue buff or red buff. In this section I will explain the four jungling paths and general jungling tips and tricks.

Now this path looks extensive, but hear me out on this. This is the path that you should be using 80-90% of the time. The early blue buff allows you to spam your 'Q' and 'W' at camps keeping your health up and clearing them faster. Also, as you might have noticed, I choose to take the Double Golems before Red Buff. This is because this will give me more time with the red buff during my ganks, this way I do not waste it as much on farming rather than on ganking.

This path should only be taken if you have good coordination with your team and if you spawn on blue side only. After you take blue buff grab 1 point in 'E' instead of your 'W' and gank top. You can gank mid if they have no escapes (eg. Mordekaiser running Heal + Ignite), but I alwasy prefer top seeing as that is the lane that will more than likely snowball and make or break a game. Don't do this path if you are purple side because your only quick gank option will be bot lane and with 2 people there it will be a waste of time for you.

I don't really like taking this path as it leaves you a bit mana hungry and in my opinion slows down your jungle speed. This is for a more ganking intensive build. If you want to really start red buff the only other way I can see it working is Path #4.

If you want to start red buff than I recommend this route. If you start purple side only, you can grab that fast red buff, get your 'E' at level 2 and go for that early first blood top lane. Why top over mid? Because top has a longer travel distance back to turret than mid does, making slows more effective and for easier ganks.

General Tips and Tricks:

Try to last hit the last creep with your 'Q' so that you are able to keep up the 'Q' stacks in between camps.

Counter jungle your opponent whenever you see him out of position

Ganking

Explanation:

Because of Hecarim's high mobility, it opens up a lot more SAFE ganking paths and allows you to use the riskier ganking paths with more effectiveness and less risk than other junglers.

Ganking Top: Blue Side Spawn
When ganking top if you are blue side there are 4 safe and effective paths to gank.
Path #1 --> Through enemy tri-brush

I recommend this path the most because it will allow you to get right behind your opponent and let you push him further away from his tower. This path will almost always at least make him blow his flash. After the enemy burns flash, you want to use your 'R' and target yourself in between the enemy and his tower so that your terror pushes him away and back to your ally.

Path #2 --> Through river bush

This is a much less effective ganking method seeing as it gives your opponent more time react to your gank and gives him the chance to flash away to safety. If using this gank path, you want to first use your 'R', placing yourself between the enemy and the tower and after that instantly using 'E' to know him back towards your own tower. This pushes the enemy back a significant amount, but still leaves the ability to flash away. Don't use this gank path on high mobility champions like Riven or Kennen seeing as they will almost always get away without having to burn their flash.

Path #3 --> Through the side bushes

You can use this path if you ally has pushed the minions to the enemy tower. Go along the side brushes and make sure not to be seen by the vision granted by minions. Use the same ganking approach as in the second ganking path. This path is not as effective as path #1 in my opinion, but if the lane is pushed, this path is a MUCH better alternative to path #2. Once I do get enough movement speed though I replace this ganking path for path #4.

Path #4 --> Through Enemy Double Golem Bush

This path is only available top lane when you spawn blue side. You want to come through the enemy tri-brush, but then loop around to the enemy bush near golems and come from behind that way. Use your 'E' to charge in and knock the enemy away from the turret or towards their wall. Use your 'R' only after they have burned flash or if they try to escape. Huge element of surprise.

Ganking Top: Purple Side Spawn
Because of Hecarim's high mobility it allows him to gank top 3 different ways when spawning on purple side, as opposed to many junglers that can only gank 2 ways.
Path #1 --> Through river bush

This is by far the most common ganking path when ganking top from purple side and it's one that you will be using a lot, at least in the early game. Start off by using 'E' and then pushing the enemy closer to your tower or towards a wall. If he begins to get away, use your 'R' and position it so that you end up between the enemy and his tower. This path works slightly better if the minions are pushed closer to your own tower.

Path #2 --> Through the side bushes

The same as for blue side. You use this path when your minions are pushed to the enemy tower. Use the same approach as if you were ganking from blue side. However, when it gets closer to late game and your have built up a nice amount of movement speed I HIGHLY recommend replacing this ganking path for path #3.

Path #3 --> Through the enemy tri-brush

Now there is a reason that many purple side junglers do not use this ganking path. This is because the blue side, top tri-brush has a really big ridge and a nice divide between it and the top lane. Because of this, if you want to gank from it as a purple side jungler you either have to take something like 3 turret hits or blow your flash to get over that gap. Because of Hecarim's ability to build movement speed while keeping up damage once you get enough items you can use this gank path by using your 'E'. You don't need to use flash and you will only take 1 or at most 2 turret hits in the process. Also, instead of flash, you can 'R' over the wall, positioning yourself to have your terror push the enemy away and then use the 'E' to push him away further.

Ganking Mid: Both Sides Spawn
Ganking mid when spawning from either side gives you the same 6 different ganking points for Hecarim.
Path #1 --> Through River Brush (Left and Right Side)

This is in my opinion the weakest way the gank mid lane. In this case you aren't flanking the opponent from behind and you are giving the enemy a larger span of time to react to the gank. That combined with the fact that the travels distance back to the enemy tower is shorter than top or bottom lane means that there is that much more chance of the enemy escaping. The only time where this path is even viable is if the enemy is pushed towards your allied tower and you can easily get behind them for the gank.

Path #2 --> Through Enterences Behind River, but in Front of Tower (Left and Right Side)

By this I mean the two paths, one right beside the wraiths, in between wraiths and river and the path on the opposite side of the lane as well. This is the better ganking path in the early to mid game as it allows you to get behind the enemy and push them away from their turret with your 'E'. Save your 'R' for when they flash, and after they do so use it and position yourself between them and their turret so that your terror pushes them farther away and towards your ally. Late game though, after I get enough movement speed I use path #3.

Path #3 --> Through Enemy Jungle, Behind Tower (Left and Right Side)

Again with this path you have the same situation where you would have to take 2-3 turret hits before jumping on your opponent, or you would have to burn flash. This gank path is used because of the increased element of surprise and the ability of the jungler to gank even when the allied minions are pushed to the enemy turret. With Hecarim's movement speed he can preform this path while taking only 1-2 turret hits and not having to use flash either way. To remove all or most of the hits completely you can use your 'R' to initiate the fight, pushing the enemy away from the turret with terror and then further pushing them away with 'E'.

Ganking Bottom Lane:
Ganking bottom lane is a bit more difficult considering the fact that you are facing off against not one ,but two opponents. When ganking bottom lane, you should always prioritize damage on the AD carry seeing as he is the one that is going to be putting out the return damage, and should he fall, it'll be much easier to secure the kill on the support. That being said, getting a kill should still be a priority. If the support is low enough to be killed, finish off the support before turning your attention to the AD carry.

Ganking Bottom: Blue Side Spawn
When ganking bottom lane here are the 3 different paths you can use.
Path #1 --> Through side bushes.

This is the path that you would use if the minions are pushed toward the enemy tower. Use the same ideology as when you are ganking top lane through the side bushes. You want to initiate with your 'R' placing yourself in a way that pushes the enemy away from their turret. Try to get both champions in your AoE damage, but if you can only get one then go for the AD carry. After that, use your 'E' to push away the AD CARRY to quickly separate him from the enemy support player. This way you are stopping them from helping each other at the beginning and isolating the AD for the kill. This will be replaced by path #3 later on.

Path #2 --> Through River Bush

This is going to be your most common ganking path when ganking bottom lane for blue side and the one that you will be using if the enemy is pushed towards your tower. Come in behind the enemy and push them (AD Carry preferably) towards your turret with 'E'. Wait for them to burn flash before using your 'R' and position yourself between them and the turret, fearing them and cutting off their escape.

Path #3 --> Through enemy tri-brush

Just like top lane blue side, bottom lane purple side has their tri-brush cut off by the cliff and the lane protected by terrain. When you get some more movement speed you will be using this approach to properly gank them when the enemy is pushed towards their turret. Either come out with the extra movement speed from 'E' and then use 'R' when they blow their flash, or initiate with 'R' and then use the knock-back from 'E' to push the enemy AD carry away from his turret.

Ganking Bottom: Purple Side Spawn
Unlike when you spawn on blue side, when you spawn on purple you actually have 4 different ways to gank bottom as opposed to three.
Path #1 --> Through Side Bushes

This is the path that you will be using early on when the enemy is pushed to their turret. The principle and execution is the exact same as when ganking from blue side, so refer to that earlier section for ganking directions.

Path #2 --> Through River Bush

This is used in my opinion ONLY when the enemy has pushed towards your allied turret. Use the same ganking principle as when ganking from blue side. Dash in and knock-back with 'E' and then use 'R' after they have burned flash. I USUALLY opt to go path #3 though because it gives you a higher element of surprise on your opponent.

Path #3 --> Through Enemy Tri-Brush

This would have to be my preferred ganking path when ganking bot lane from purple side. You use this path when the lane is pushed to your turret or frozen in the middle. You can even use it when the lane is pushed towards the enemy. This gives a nice amount of surprise and uses the same ganking order and mechanics as when ganking from river, but it gives less time for the enemy to retaliate because before they know it, you will already be behind them charging in.

Path #4 --> Through Enemy Double Golem Bush

Now this path is only available bottom lane when you spawn purple side. You want to come through the enemy tri-brush, but then loop around to the enemy bush near golems and come from behind the enemy. Charge in with your 'E' and knock them away from turret or towards a wall. Use your 'R' as a chaser when they flash or try to escape. This becomes the best ganking path when your opponents are pushed to their turret.

Final Ganking Remark:
Remember that even if you did not get a kill, a burned flash for the enemy is still a successful gank for you (unless they got the kill of course). If that happens just come back a minute later to gank again seeing as now they will have no escapes. Lastly, remember that if a gank does not go well there is no reason to be discouraged and you should never give up.

Team Fights

Explanation:

In team-fights you as Hecarim have two main priorities:

Lay down as much AoE AS POSSIBLE!

Focus the enemy carry and get them away from the rest of their team.

Because of the ridiculous AoE that your ultimate has, as well as the terror, you should be the one initiating the fights most of the time. There are exceptions of course, like Malphite, Morgana or something like a flash Sona ult. Try to get your ult to hit as many people as possible and as soon as that is done you want to use your 'W' as quickly as possible as it will give you that health regen and sustain throughout the fight as you will be focused hard. As soon as you use 'R' your next priority will be to start your 'E' and knock the enemy carry as far away from his enemy and the fight in general as possible. Your job in a team-fight is to jump on that carry as quickly as possible and to keep him away from the fight for as long as possible. The other important thing to note is throughout the entire team-fight you want to be CONSTANTLY spamming your 'Q' and i mean CONSTANTLY, AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. That short cool-down AoE is too good to pass up in a team-fight. Mash that 'Q' button, tape a rock to it, I don;t care just keep on using it.

Remember: You are a mobility monster, so use that to your advantage to get better positioning in team-fights.

Final Comments

In conclusion, I really hope that you enjoyed the guide and I hope that it was very informative to you and encourages you to try out this way of playing jungle Hecarim. I put a lot of time into this so a thumbs up would be appreciated and as a final piece of advice I'd like to say this. Never give up! As cheesy as this sounds, I have seen to many games come around because the team refused to give up and they stuck through until the late game. The worst thing you can do for your team is quit. While you are there your team ALWAYS has a chance to win the game, but as soon as you give up and leave that chance slips away. So remember to have fun and I'll see you out there on Summoner's Rift. :)

Comments

First off, I admire you for taking the time to write such a long guide. If this was a guide to explain how to make guides, it would be a fairly good one. However, as a guide for Hecarim, you've got certain things completely wrong.

First off, your runes. Running armor penetration Marks are far inferior to Greater Mark of Alacrity (Attack Speed), simply because of the way damage scales in this game. Even though Hecarim doesn't benefit of attack speed as much as other junglers, for example Nocturne and Nunu at first glance, if you look through his kit closely, you'll notice that he actually does.

Hecarim's passive gives him attack damage equal to between 5% and 25% of his bonus movement speed. Now, I'll get into this later, but say you started boots and 3x health pot, that alone is 50 bonus movement speed, and at level 1 your passive will then give you 2.5 attack damage. And because of the way attack speed works in this game, your damage will become amplified by your attack speed.

And that is only half the reason why you should use attack speed marks. Hecarim's W will heal you for a percentage of ALL damage dealt to ALL the enemies within its range. Now again, attack speed will benefit you because it will amplify your damage, and thus give you more healing, which will help you sustain in the jungle.

I'll skip over your seals and glyphs because they are standard and I don't have any initial comments on them.

Now over to your quintessences: I noticed you listed movement speed quintessences as a great alternative to your preferred flat attack damage, but in reality, there is no alternative. I would go so far as to say that there is no other viable option for quintessences, other than movement speed.

To start off with, movement speed is the most essential stat in the game, and it is often underrated. Movement speed lets you get to the jungle camps faster, which leads to a faster clear time, it lets you chase and escape in cases of counter jungling and ganks, and on Hecarim it also gives you attack damage, making switching them out for flat attack damage quintessences utterly silly.

All movement speed, except for the ones you get from boots, and your base movement speed is percentage based, meaning it makes the rich richer, in the way that if you already have a lot of movement speed, it will give you more than if you didn't.

In other words, movement speed scales upon itself. Normal boots of speed gives you 50 movement speed. Movement speed quints gives you 4.5% movement speed, which would with 50 movement speed (not counting with your base 325 movement speed here), give you 2.25 additional movement speed. Now say you bought Mercury Threads, which would give you 70 movement speed, those 4.5% would now become around 3.25.

Now you might wonder why I spent that much time explaining how movement speed scales, but if you now look back at Hecarim's passive, you should see that, both through his passive moving from 5% to 25% efficiency through levels, his movement speed through masteries, runes and items also scale, basically turning his movement speed quintessences into an additional pair of attack damage per level quintessences.

I don't have stats on the differences between the damage you get from attack damage per level and from Hecarim's passive, but I can imagine them being fairly similar.

You're masteries are all fine, and I agree with your choices. Your items, however, lack some synergy.

First of, I would like to state that Boots of Swiftness are the worst boots in the game. Their stats compared to any other boots in the game are not reflected in the pricing. You said you often buy Mercury Threads, which are the preferred boots on Hecarim, and I would edit the guide to say that boots are optional, (which they are), and list Ninja Tabi, Mercury Threads, and Boots of Swiftness if you want, as alternatives depending on team matchups.

I would like to add that Boots of Mobility aren't as bad as you think, because they both give you a pretty substantial speed boost when not in combat, and will also give your first attack or spell in a fight some additional damage.

Trinity Force is a great item, and Force of Nature is too >in certain matchups<. Force of Nature is a situational item, and it is good VS a team with at least 2 Ability power based champions, or a fed AP carry. However, if none of those two, you are better off with Randuin's Omen, or if no one else on your team is building it, a Frozen Heart.

An alternative to Force of Nature is Maw of Mamortius, which is a more offensive based item. It's also good to have VS a Veigar, Mordekaiser or Karthus, for obvious reasons.

I personally think Shurelya's Reverie is a great item, and I don't find it bad having 2 on your team. The early Philosopher's Stone is also good both for sustaining and stacking up gold for lategame.

A Warmog's in an ok item, but personally I dislike it. You're more of an utility bruiser than a tank.

Now, a Phantom Dancer? This is where your guide started to mess with my brain and force me to write this giant block of text.

As mentioned earlier, attack speed amplifies your damage, but a Phantom Dancer has 3 stats on it: attack speed, which is fine, movement speed which is really good, and crit chance, which is pretty horrible without either an infinity edge or a crapload of attack damage. Now, a viable build on Hecarim could be to just drop the Warmog's for an Infinty Edge, but a Warmog's and Force of Nature doesn't synergize at all with a Phantom Dancer.

Still, I won't downvote your guide, as this was meant as constructive criticism, which I hope you will look at, and edit your guide accordingly.

If I acted immaturely, I am sorry, but I am a 15 year old "kiddo", nothing more, nothing less.